Chapter 15

Deep in the Netherworld, inside the boat upon the Sanzu River, Master Xandred has isolated himself in his cabin as his power began surging due to the water level rising. While the evil lord began loudly growling and yelling, the boat began swaying back and forth "Oh ah oh! Master Xandred's roar has even the rocks rolling, look at them go!" said Octoroo who looked out of the boat's window, Dayu happened to be looking out also "I'm glad you're enjoying it, if the ship keeps tossing around like this I'm gonna be sick!" then the Furrywarts appeared and began chanting happily "Be sick, be sick, be sick!" Octoroo walked away from the window "Just be glad the Boss decided to lock himself in his cabin while his power is surging…All we have to do is protect him from other Nighlok until he finishes absorbing his new powers and this chaos finally stops." Dayu sighed and looked towards Master Xandred's door only to hear him angrily roar again.

In the city due to Master Xandred locking himself up to absorb his powers, the Moogers appeared and began reeking havoc since no one was in charge of them for the time being. At the household Jayden was outside with Nariko, sitting by the pond garden and currently the red ranger was tickling his fiancé who tried to keep his hands away "J-Jayden! Stop it!" "Why don't you make me?" "I will!" Nariko managed to grab Jayden's hands and tried to wrestle him to the ground but the red ranger easily overpowered her. Thus he had the princess gently fall upon her back with him hovering over her body, Nariko giggled and tried to get back up but Jayden had her pinned to the ground. Before anything else could happen the couple heard the Gap sensor go off and looked towards the house. Jayden then looked back at his fiancé "Duty calls." he gave a quick kiss to Nariko and got off of her to run towards the front gate with the other rangers following.

Back in the Netherworld Master Xandred was still locked up in his cabin only to bark at Octoroo from inside "Noodleface! Unlock this door!" Octoroo simply just stood a few feet away from the door, feeling a bit nervous "Oh ah oh…This is bad with the Boss still struggling who knows what kind of despicable and conniving Nighlok might come around and-" though as Octoroo turned around he came face to face with a spider like Nighlok that had a face of an ox on its chest who said "Despicable and conniving?" "Arachnitor! I didn't mean you! I meant someone really despicable and conniving! What are you doing here anyway? N-Not that it's not great to see you and everything." "I heard Master Xandred was 'tied up' now that I see that it's true." "Uh…Yeah…Pretty much…" "Then this would be an excellent opportunity for some bold and ambitious Nighlok to seize his throne with your help." "With my help!" "What do you say?" Octoroo began walking away from the Nighlok "Oh ah oh…You really had me going there Arachnitor, seize the throne, heh, heh, heh even in the state he is in now no one can't beat the Master in a fight." "Of course not we both know Xandred can't be beaten but he can be sealed away!"

Meanwhile at the household the rangers returned after fighting so many Moogers with their Megazords. In the living room the group was trying figure out what to do for the time being before another attack happens "I don't know what to do, we fought so hard but the Sanzu River keeps seeping into our world." said Mia " I can't believe this is happening." muttered Mike "What else can we do? We've beaten the Nighlok every time." said Emily "We can't think about winning or losing, we have to believe in ourselves and keep fighting." told Jayden having Kevin nod in agreement "Jayden is right we can't give up no matter what." soon both Ji and Nariko entered the room just as Kevin said that. "I'm glad to hear that because Nariko and I may have found something that could help us." said Ji, Nariko pulled out a journal from behind her back and opened it, laying it upon the table for the rangers to see. Jayden immediately recognized the picture and looked at the two "The black box? Ji, Nariko we can't…" "What is it?" asked Mia "A magic talisman, created by the very first red ranger, it is said that it can unite the symbol powers of all rangers into one." told Nariko "Ok cool…So lets fire it up." said Mike "It's not as simple as that…The red ranger never finished the talisman." informed Jayden, Nariko nodded "Yes…Many have tried but none have the skill and power to complete it." "What about Antonio? He's a tech wiz." suggested Emily, Mike nodded "Yeah I mean the guy programmed a zord like it was a coffee maker." "But he doesn't have mastery of symbol power like we do…you know how much it drains us each time we use it?" reminded Kevin only to have Jayden agree "Kevin is right, trying to transfer even a few of our symbol powers into the box could destroy him, I can't ask him to do this." "Jayden…None of us want to see Antonio get hurt but…" said Emily only to have Mia finish for her "We're talking about saving the human race." "If he's willing…Give him a shot." said Mike, the red ranger was silent for a bit, thinking it over before nodding "Ok…" "First you must retrieve the black box, for generations it has been protected by the guardians of the Tengen Gate." said Ji "Whom my family is good friends with so I'll be going with you." informed Nariko, having the rangers nod in understanding.

Later the group had arrived at the location of the gate, though as they approached it Mike said "This is the Tengen gate? It's just a big wood thing!" "The Tengen gate is an important part of ranger history Mike." they all stopped at the gate and bowed except for Mike before continuing on in, while entering the temple area Nariko stopped in front of a stone causing the others to stop also. "This commemorates where the first samurai rangers battled the Nighlok army." told Nariko "They said the Sanzu River flooded the entire city." said Emily "Where happened?" asked Mike "The rangers defeated them because they never gave up, and they took their training seriously." answered Kevin, an old man then approached the group "They certainly did…All though the legends told us that the green ranger was a bit of a prankster." "No way." said Mike, the old man nodded "Apparently he drove the blue ranger crazy but they were still the best of friends…I am Daisuke the elder guardian." the group bowed to the elderly man who kindly greeted them "Welcome to the Tengen Gate, your mentor advised us that you were coming please come in." while Kevin and the others made their way in Daisuke went over to the princess "Ah! Dear Nariko how wonderful to see your face!" "It's nice to see you too Daisuke." "Look at you! You're growing into a fine beautiful woman, come here and give me a hug!" Nariko smiled and gave Daisuke his hug, though once they broke the hug the elder guardian notice Jayden still staring at the stone "A penny for your thoughts Jayden?" "It's nothing." "You haven't told them of your secret have you?" "They're my friends Daisuke…I don't like lying to them but…" Daisuke went over to Jayden, putting his hand on his shoulder lightly gripping it "I'm sorry Jayden…But it is your responsibility to be the red ranger." "I know…I won't fail them.." Daisuke then began walking away and Jayden was about to too until he noticed the look on his fiancé's face, he then immediately knew what was bothering her "Nariko…" "Don't Jayden…I really don't want to talk about this certain subject at all." "I understand…" he held out his hand to her which she took and the couple followed after Daisuke into the temple.

There inside Mia and Kevin were looking at painting upon the wall while they looked Daisuke came to their side "Its an old folktale…A young woman made a deal with the Nighlok king to save the life of her beloved…But the king tricked her and turned them both into Nighlok." "Sure does sound like something a Nighlok would do." said Kevin "The king took away the man's memory…And cursed him to wander the Earth alone forever." Mia continued to stare at the painting and touched the drawing of a woman "It's strange…It's almost as if I met this woman before…" the group then sat down in a circle and Daisuke brought out a black wooden container. He removed the top to reveal a small black box with the samurai symbol upon its surface "The Black Box…The most powerful samurai weapon ever conceived…Few even know of its existence." Jayden took the weapon out of the wooden container and gazed upon it, he then looked at the elder guardian smiling a bit "Thank you Daisuke…I'll protect it with my very life." "I hope your friend can program it…With each passing day the Nighlok presence grow stronger…I fear soon that even this sacred place will be corrupted by their evil…"

Soon a fellow guardian entered carrying a tray of tea, he set the tray down and Daisuke grab the cups passing them around "Now…Let us drink tea together…To honor the ancient rangers and for good fortune in battle." Nariko was the first to drink her tea only to spit it out and drop her cup. Immediately she grabbed her throat and collapsed to the ground, Jayden quickly pulled his fiancé into his arms "Nariko!" "J-Jayden! The drink…It's poisoned!" suddenly a fellow guardian came running in "Daisuke! There are Nighlok in the garden!" "Nighlok!" growled Kevin "But we can't leave Nariko here!" told Mia, the princess shook her head "Don't worry about me…Go, hurry!" immediately Kevin, Mia, Mike and Emily left but Jayden stayed "What…What are you doing Jayden? Y-You need to stop the Nighlok!" "No! I'm not leaving your side!" Daisuke quickly brought out 2 pillows and put them down on the ground "Here Jayden, lay Nariko down." he did as he was told and soon a fellow guardian came running in with some herbs and a cup of tea. Daisuke grabbed the cup and handed it to Jayden who handed it to Nariko to drink. While he held her head up to drink, Octoroo then entered the room "What a joke! Seriously? You're going to fight my black magic potion with dried mushrooms?" Daisuke turned to the creature "Foolish Nighlok! Your forces were defeated here once before and they shall be again!" "Oh ah oh! You want a piece of me too?" "Wait! It's me you want! Let the guardians go!" said Jayden, Octoroo simply just shrugged "Fine by me I just need one thing from you red ranger, you're going to show me the symbol you red rangers use to seal away Master Xandred and also I'm here to take the pretty Yamada princess too for my master." "That I will never allow!" the red ranger quickly picked his fiance and dashed out of the room, determined to keep Nariko safe in anyway.

Though once he reached outside, Jayden immediately stopped in his tracks once seeing that Octoroo was already outside. "It's just a simple question red ranger…Just show me the sealing symbol and I'll give you the antidote but you also have to surrender the Yamada princess over. That way it'll save us both a lot of grief." told the squid face nighlok only to have Jayden glare at him "Never." "Heh! That's how you want to play it? Keep in mind red ranger, your precious princess doesn't have much time." Jayden tightened his hold on Nariko, knowing what Octoroo said is right. To his relief Antonio came running in at the right moment "Hey! The man said no!" as he morphed into the gold ranger, Jayden safely put his fiancé off to the side and gently cupped her face "Just hang on for me Nariko I'm gonna go get that antidote." "I'll try Jayden…" the red ranger then headed over to Antonio in order to help him fight Octoroo and retrieve the antidote. While the two rangers were busy fighting the squid face nighlok, Deker who had secretly been watching the whole time made his way over to Nariko. She tiredly looked at Deker as he approached "Who…Who are you?" "The name is Deker…" "What…What are you doing here?" "You shall see soon enough and seeing that you can't move much, makes things much easier." Deker then picked up Nariko and turned to the fight between the rangers and Octoroo "Hey fisherman, red ranger!" both rangers stopped what they were doing and were surprised to find Deker standing there. "Huh? Hey what are you doing here?" demanded Antonio "Relax fisherman…I'll take good care of your dear Yamada princess for you red ranger." with that Deker began walking away with Nariko in his arms which causes Jayden to abandon the fight with Octoroo and run after the swordsman "Nariko!" "Jayden wait!" yelled Antonio who also abandon the fight to run after his childhood friend.

Unfortunately to the gold ranger's dismay, he lost sight of Jayden while running through the forest "No…I can't believe I lost him and Nariko…Wait…What about the others?" Antonio quickly dash though the forest and soon found the other rangers on the ground unconscious, due to the fight with Arachnitor who for some odd reason is nowhere in sight. The gold ranger looked back and forth at the unconscious rangers "Mike, Em, Mia, Kevin! Guys wake up!" but they still remained unconscious, causing Antonio to fall to his knees in defeat "What am I suppose to do now?" Meanwhile at a river Deker was treading through the water with an unconscious Nariko in his arms "Stop right there!" Deker did stop and turned around to find Jayden standing a few feet behind him panting "So you've finally caught up red ranger." "Give me back Nariko right now!" "I will in due time…But don't you want to save her first? She's still has the poison in her system and I know a way to get rid of it." "You do?" "Yes…Follow me and see for yourself." seeing that there was no other way, Jayden reluctantly followed Deker who continued his journey through the river while thinking "Finally the opportunity has arrived…Soon I shall have my divine moment and duel the red ranger."